Since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, movie theaters across the U.S. have struggled to bounce back. Many people believe streaming services are the way to go, with movie tickets and concessions costing an arm and a leg. For some, this leaves a bad taste in their mouth, and they will do whatever they can to cleanse their palate.

Kat Trout-Baron is a fourth-year screenwriting and cinema major at the University of Iowa. They also serve as the executive director on the Bijou Film Board. They are graduating and heading to Los Angeles to pursue a career in screenwriting. 

“Maybe it’s very presumptuous of me, but when I came in, one of my goals was to lead Bijou. From day one, freshman year, I wanted to be the leader of that club,” Trout-Baron said.

With this goal in mind, Trout-Baron dedicated much of their time to their position by working up the ladder year after year,  going from a programmer on the board to partnership director, and finally executive director in just three years. Each position came with its own set of challenges.

“They’re probably the most passionate and driven person I know. They take everything very seriously,” Caitlin Lenz, Trout-Baron’s close friend, said.

While doing all of this work, Trout-Baron still had to be a student at the university, which proved to be a challenge. However, they don’t see it as an extra responsibility.

“I love that all these things interact and engage with each other. It doesn’t feel like work, just feels like this is a step towards what I want to do for the rest of my life,” Trout-Baron said.

All of this work does not go unnoticed. Bijou was no stranger to the impact of COVID-19 on their events, but now attendance numbers are up. Trout-Baron has made a huge, positive difference in the local film community.

“I feel that in the past two years since they’ve been director, things have really flourished,” Lenz said. “It’s been crazy to see events going from sparse to almost every after hours being a huge deal.”

Although it may seem like it,  writing creatively, much less screenwriting, was not a goal for Trout-Baron early on. Many people in their position would say it was a passion for their whole lives, but Trout-Baron was on a different path.

“I didn’t even creatively write until I was around 18 or 19. I was really into essays and more of an academic world,” Trout-Baron said.

All of that changed when they saw Robert Eggers’ film, “The Lighthouse.” The black-and-white nature of the film drew them in, and they were hooked by the odd dialogue.

“I can’t even imagine what flipped me, but there was just something so hauntingly weird and kind of charismatic about the movie that bewitched me,” Trout-Baron said.

Through this passion, they have collaborated with a lot of people, believing collaboration is a huge part of film and what makes it the “most bountiful and beautiful artistic medium.” This collaboration of different backgrounds can make a difference in the audience’s mind. 

“Collaboration is something I think we’re lacking a lot right now in society. Having the arts and showing that people can come together to support this one thing and just tell a story is really important,” Trout-Baron’s peer and friend Delaney Waterman said.

As Trout-Baron’s time in Iowa City comes to an end, they look toward  a bright future. They’ll be moving to LA in August and pursuing a screenwriting career there. Trout-Baron said the hard work they put in at Bijou should prove effective when the time comes to start putting in the work out west.

“I want to make a professional career as a screenwriter, which obviously isn’t a one-day thing. I hope to build it over the next few years,” Trout-Baron said. “What is lovely about my time here with Bijou and the professional work I’ve done is that they helped me see what a larger, more fleshed-out film career can be.”

Trout-Baron is fond of episodic, Jim Jarmusch-style vignettes featuring cowboys. They’re also interested in the representation of queer people in America.

“I could see them producing and creating more queer works in cinema because I do know that is an identity that they hold close to them,” Waterman said.

Trout-Baron is especially excited for their future, and is ready for the trials and tribulations of being a screenwriter in Hollywood.

“I just want to be able to write films and scripts and see them come to life. I hope to make it happen,” Trout-Baron said.